Tires for construction and mining vehicles are mounted on dump trucks and other construction vehicles used at construction sites and mines. Such tires have the problem of uneven wear, for example wear that progresses at the shoulder region and wear that progresses near a point located ½ of the tread half-width from the tread surface edge of the tread portion (referred to below as the “¼ point”).
A pneumatic tire for construction vehicles that addresses the problem of uneven wear has been proposed, for example in WO 2006/013758 (PTL 1). In this tire, lug grooves that cut across the land portion at the shoulder side of the tread portion are provided in both halves of the tread surface. Specifically, in this pneumatic tire, the groove width of each lug groove gradually decreases, and each lug groove includes a tapered groove portion with a tip extending beyond ½ of the tread half width from the tread surface edge. According to this tire, providing a tapered portion in the lug groove reportedly keeps the tread rubber from deforming in the tire width direction and being dragged against the road surface when the tread surface kicks off the road surface, and the occurrence of uneven wear near the ¼ point of the tread surface can reportedly be prevented.